Christmas in March only a cruel nightmare

March 22, 2011|TOM NOIE | Tribune Staff Writer

Opportunities like the one handed the Notre Dame men's basketball team late Sunday evening seldom surface in even the ideal of seasons.

Playing in front of a pro-Irish crowd less than 100 miles away from campus, having earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament's Southwest Region and winners of 13 of its previous 15 games, Notre Dame's chance of reaching the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2003 arrived neatly packaged, complete with colorful gift wrap and a bow. It was Christmas in March.

All that was required were 40 minutes of effort and execution, the same stuff that often carried Notre Dame this winter. Beat a No. 10 seed that had finished third in its conference during a down season and a big step would be taken toward places few Irish teams had ventured.

On a night when it all had to work right, nothing did. Notre Dame saw a 27-7 season end with a 71-57 loss to Florida State in the third round of the NCAA tournament.

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Opportunity lost.

Answers did not come easily in the stone-quiet locker room. Players sat scattered about clutching box lunches almost as tightly as they strangled the post-season expectations. Irish veterans spoke in near-whispers and offered little

ANALYSIS

insight as to why it didn't work. Sophomores Joey Brooks and Jack Cooley fought losing battles with their emotions. Even coach Mike Brey, always steady in the eye of any storm, seemed near exhaustion. His tank had finally hit empty.

The same sure-of-itself squad that sailed through the previous four months never surfaced during the season's most important one.

As the Notre Dame train gathered steam early in non-conference play, picked up speed in January and threatened to sail right off the rails in going 8-1 in the back half of the Big East schedule, players talked confidently of hanging their own touch to the rafters of Purcell Pavilion. They wanted championship banners. Anything less was unacceptable.

Unacceptable is all that remains. That, and an Old Spice Classic championship. That regular-season Big East championship? The Irish fell one game shy. A Big East Tournament Championship game appearance? Notre Dame seemed on its way with a 16-point lead over Louisville in the semifinals before a crushing overtime loss.

That night ultimately devastated the program more than anyone realized. The Irish had put a massive emphasis on playing on a Saturday night in Madison Square Garden. Not only did dreams of playing for a league championship vaporize in midtown Manhattan, but so did dreams of really extending this special season.

Nothing afterward was the same. Swagger? Certainty? Confidence? All remained somewhere back east as the Irish season slipped south.

The dream of advancing into the second weekend of the NCAA tournament may have been the cruelest nightmare. Once post-season arrived, first against No. 15 seed Akron and then against Florida State, Notre Dame was a shell of itself. Those good vibes that had pulsated through the program all season were staggered in the Akron game before flat-lining against Florida State.

On a night when the Irish had to be at their best, they were at their collective worst. The game wasn't even 12 minutes old -- not enough time for fans in the United Center stands to polish off their $16.50 rib-eye sandwiches or $12.50 mini pizzas -- and Notre Dame already was in a double-digit hole (23-11). That marked the quickest since the late-November game against Georgia that it had trailed by at least 10 points. Notre Dame figured it out that night in Orlando. It never did against Florida State.

Even in regular-season meltdowns at Marquette (22 points) and St. John's (18), Notre Dame seemingly had a chance at intermission. The Irish trailed by five in Milwaukee and by seven in New York. On Sunday, the deficit was 11, but seemed more like 22. It essence, it was already over.

A team that side-stepped turmoil all year found itself swimming in it. Scott Martin's balky back acted up in the opening minutes. Cooley and Carleton Scott fought foul trouble. Ty Nash was rendered invisible by the fellow Florida State big men. Big East player of the year Ben Hansbrough labored through another night of missed shots and missed opportunity. Tim Abromaitis couldn't hit a shot when the game was close, then couldn't miss when it was out of control.

Brey eventually called for his team to press, and those plans are seldom part of the playbook. Desperate measure in a most desperate time.

One issue after another had to be addressed as the deficit eventually ballooned to 23 points. Credit the Florida State defense, but even that offered nothing from the norm of a Big East regular season. Notre Dame found a way then, but couldn't when it really counted. All that experience and that leadership? Suspect.

On a night when there needed to be plenty of fight in the Irish, there was little.

As the team bus rolled from the United Center loading dock around 1 a.m. eastern time for the quiet crawl home, one question certainly followed: If not this year, when it all was right there, then when?